Six out of seven of these people went to high school together and four out of seven of these people have known each other since elementary school or before. The fact that we hang out on a semi-regular basis while living all across Texas is a miracle. A miracle first because we all saw each other in middle school and are still friends and a miracle second because we live a minimum of an hour and a half away. And at one point living more than six hours away from each other. Madness. You know why we’re still friends? Because we make the time to be together. We make the time to spend weekends together sustaining our relationships. Real, genuine relationships. And for that I can never be more grateful.

Since moving to Dallas last summer, I’ve only hosted my family and the occasional sister. Until recently, I hadn’t met or known many Dallas natives to even host a party for. That’s a little different now, but I wanted my friends to come and celebrate with me. I wanted to show off what little I know about this city and get a little crazy with them. And we did.

The Austin crew rolled in around 6:30 or so while the Fort Worth and Addison locals showed up on either side of that. We made tacos, ate chips and salsa and guacamole, ate cookies that Christina was convinced had peanut butter in them (they did not), talked life and God and school, what we’re doing now, how much we’ve changed in the last seven or eight years, played with the dogs, and just spent time together smoking cigars on the patio. And yes, seven people can all fit on my patio “comfortably.” That’s good for me to know.

Around 11:30 we decided to hit the town and discover that most places in Lower Greenville close at midnight. What kind of madness is this, LG?! I’m v disappointed. We bar hopped for a second, discovered a very interesting DJ duo in full sequined body suits at Crown & Harp, and took an Uber uptown. There we watched one of our own get two phone numbers from guys that literally walked right up to her out of nowhere, lit candles with matches, flung coasters at each other, and cringed when the last call lights dimmed on.

We capped off the night piled on my living room floor crashing to Bob’s Burgers. Seeing seven people literally sleeping like sardines on my floor made me weirdly happy. To know that my home can make other people comfortable and happy and safe. It made me feel responsible and warm and good and proud and adult.

The next morning we drove to the cafe down my block because we were too tired and it was too hot to walk three blocks. We ordered food to go and ate it on my floor while Pepper tried to snag a bite.

My sister, Shelby, couldn’t make it this weekend so we FaceTimed her and filled her in on what all she missed. It was a lot.

 

I could not be prouder to call this group of diverse weirdos my friends. Even though we’re spread across DFW, Waco, Austin, College Station, Houston… we make the time to be together. That’s friendship. Sacrifice, love, and humility. Thank you guys for letting me be apart of this insane group of people. I LOVE YOU ALL.

 

 

xx

 

This post marks one off my Summer Bucket List! Check out the rest of my list here.